ADHD support for A levels

[adhdsupporthelp]

DS has finally been diagnosed with ADHD (we were told both types and huge problems with executive functioning). About to try medication at his request. School supported diagnosis but was delayed due to lockdowns.

He is now doing A levels at a 6th form college and is reluctant for them to be told as he is hoping the mediation will mean he doesnt need any adjustments.

What support typically could we request to help him? He is doing maths, computing and physics. Thank you.

Following with interest. I have adhd and I'm convinced that my Year 13 dd has it as well, but we haven't pursued a diagnosis yet because she doesn't feel she'll get anywhere with it. She is extremely bright and does very well in school, so she masks things exceptionally well (as did I at that age, despite always feeling desperately out of control).

I think her teachers see her as the model pupil, and they would be astonished to see the extent to which she struggles with executive function and general organisation. They have no idea...

For our diagnosis we needed evidence of ADHD in 2 settings so I presumed school needed to support it. No issue for us as he displayed every symptom of it in school!! Good luck

Yes, that's what we are concerned about. I have no doubt that she does have adhd, because her symptoms are so similar to mine, but because she over-compensates in other ways, people don't realise.

Having been friends for years, her boyfriend has finally got an insight into how chaotic she actually is, and he is utterly bewildered at how she manages to achieve what she does.

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@adhdsupporthelp All of my older three have inattentive ADHD - as do I - and the youngest has his assessment later this month. Their diagnoses have all happened this year, so at the ages of 22, 20 and 18. What they found was that while the medication helps with focus, they've still had to do a lot of learning about organisation and time management - the meds just put their heads in the right place to do this, they weren't a magic cure. There are, and always will be, still things that they find more difficult and have to make specific efforts to do properly.

Although he might be reluctant to disclose it at sixth form, once he does, there are a raft of things they can do and should do and it will make his life a lot easier. Simple adjustments like getting slides sent through early, staff being aware that he might need things presented differently, regular check-ins with pastoral staff, use of tech to help with note taking, more flexible deadlines with homework make a real difference. It will also allow them to put in place arrangements for formal exams. Ds2 got his diagnosis just before his A Levels but the school were able to give him supervised rest breaks and he had regular prompts.

Looking ahead, it will also enable him to access proper support at uni, if that's the route he choose. Ds1 has flexible deadlines, a study mentor, access to the library at different times as well as specific software to help with essays. Ds2 is currently in discussion with the Disability team at his new uni to decide what he'll need in place to enable him to make the best of his studies. Dd is about to start a Masters and will also have specific arrangements in place, including doing it part-time over 2 years so it's easier to manage.

@Anothernamechangeplease Dd was exactly the same - A Levels were where it started to fall apart but we didn't find out why until after she'd struggled through her degree and her mental health was becoming compromised. She was the one who told me to go and get assessed 😁She doesn't regret getting the assessment and feels that it's helped her make sense of what she experienced before. Would your dd do one of the online assessments as a starting point?

The ADHD Foundation has some really good resources, as does Additude Mag

Good luck to both your dcs!

Thank you @Maladicta , and yes, dd is certainly struggling more to organise herself now that she is doing A-levels. I think it's harder now because there is more independent study and therefore a much greater need for the executive function that she lacks. She has done the online assessments before, and they suggest that she very likely has adhd. I'm sure of it because she presents in exactly the same way that I do. The problem would be with getting evidence from the school to support a diagnosis - I just don't think they see what I see, and they would not believe that she would be capable of doing anything like as well as she does without a significantly greater level of organisational ability and executive function than she actually has. They always assume that she is ultra disciplined and organised, whereas the reality is that she is anything but!

Like mother, like daughter. <sigh>

I’m diagnosed and found it helpful to be able to record lectures for my msc alongside taking notes. The other thing that helped was being exempt from rules on punctuality, ironically taking the pressure off meant I was on time 99% of the time.

@adhdsupporthelp When I told Ds2's school he was being assessed, the SENDCo said she couldn't understand why but sent a questionnaire round his teachers. All said he struggled with independent study, homework was late, he couldn't focus in class, he was disorganised but because he never displayed any behaviour issues, he wasn't flagged up 🙄 His school strategy has always been to disappear and it had obviously worked.

Because he had just turned 18, he didn't need any involvement from school - an adult psychiatrist saw him and used the info the school had given without needing to contact them, instead I was able to give info from school reports etc.

Schools are having to be more open to the idea that it presents differently in girls, maybe a chat with the SENDCo might be helpful - they can at least keep an eye out for her. I found the sixth form pastoral support team were very willing to engage to help him once they realised what was going on.

@Anothernamechangeplease i have a DD like this - diagnosed just before yr 11 and now just starting 6th form. I knew school wouldn’t have a clue what we were talking about and Dd was diagnosed without their input (2 settings can be at home and at the psychiatrist’s clinic). Obviously we approached school as she on as we had a diagnosis and although they were initially funny about that fact we hadn’t involved them, they are now on board. I would strongly advise getting a diagnosis before she leaves for uni as so many come undone once structure and support at home is gone .

Extra time and rest breaks worked well for my DD during her gcse’s, however, it took a while for the school to agree to these despite her diagnosis. Fingers crossed you find something that works for your DS!

Hi All, I’m hoping to know which high schools in sydney are good at accomodating kids with adhd. It’s for my son who has ADHD and is highly disorganised, little working memory and time blindness! Any feedback would be appreciated

@Maladicta I would like to learn more about the supports in place for your child My son can receive help for his A-level exams as he did his IGSCE but the school is reluctant to put classroom accommodations in place. They are acting as if his disabilities disappeared when he passed his IGSCE.

For his exams, he received extra time, movement breaks, prompts and scribing. Scribing changed his school life. His grades improved; he demonstrated more knowledge and his confidence improved.

What accommodations are in place for your child? How do flexible deadlines work?

This is an interesting thread. My child received an ADHD diagnosis in primary school and when the doctor began listing off all the general ADHD information that I had already learned through my own reading, I stopped her. "What is something that you can tell me about ADHD that I won't read in the books, that you learned only from watching your own clients," I asked. She thought awhile, then responded that she had many patients who fared well in school, in university, in Masters Programs, PhDs, etc. "But A Levels is where I see most fall apart."

This is just one doctor's opinion based on the patients she has treated. But, although my child is still young, I keep these words in the back of my mind.

Hi,

Did the doctor say why?

The doctor didn't go into a lot of detail. She said that she used to think A-levels wouldn't be bad for ADHD students bc they selected their topics of focus themselves, so might be able to "hyper-focus" their way into doing well. But then she saw it didn't work out that way.

She mentioned: how much information had to be learned (hard for ADHD students with focus issues to study that much, and for those with impulsiveness to sit down every single night, month after month, and review material so familiar that it can become "boring") and retained (working memory). But especially student's difficulty mentally accessing all that information on the exam day, and then organising it in a way that lets them write for hours in a compelling manner during the exam itself.